Regretful Changes
by Hanon Nanami
Summary: Near is tired of being called a sheep. With a change to his look, will the insults stop?


"Hey Sheep, get outta my way!" A rough shove left Near stumbling backwords, narrowly avoiding hitting the wall. He watched as the vicious blonde smirked and walked casually away, his gamer friend quietly following behind him. Sighing to himself, Near walked back to his room. He could skip dinner.

Opening the door, he immediately sat on the floor in the middle of the room and began stacking dice. Same old routine every day. Near would be walking in the hallways, and Mello would purposely come and find him just to call him a sheep and push him out of the way. The albino would walk back to his room and find solice in puzzles, toys, and dice. At least _they_ couldn't pick on him, or call him names.

_Why does Mello always call me a sheep? I can't help it that I'm pale. _Near thought to himself miserably. _Is it a bad thing? Is that why Mello hates me? _While he was encased in his own thoughts, he failed to see the door creak open. The grinning blonde walked in, apparently not done toying with the younger teen.

"Hey, _sheep._ Why aren't you eating dinner?" Mello sneered and Near lifted his head. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, icy blue with emotionless grey.

"Avoiding Mello." That was all that was said, and Near looked back down at the dice he was attempting to balance. Mello blinked, then scowled in fury before kicking the dice over to watch it scatter around the room. Snarling, he picked Near up by the collar of his shirt and forced him to stand.

"What did you say? You're _avoiding _me? Well it's not like I want to see you either!" Mello shoved Near against a wall, hearing a successful _thud_ as his head smacked into the wall. Near winced, but didn't show much emotion.

"Then why is Mello here? If you don't want to see me, why come find me?" That left Mello at a loss for words. Opening his mouth repeatedly, about to say something but never finding the words, he carlessly tossed Near to the side.

"Tch, I'm outta here." As soon as Mello stormed out of the room, Near walked into the bathroom across the hall. He looked at himself in the mirror, something he hardly ever did. Was there really something wrong with his snowy curls? Or his porcelain white skin? What about the white pajamas he always wore? _I see...Mello hates me for my appearance, correct?_ _Even if it's for me always being number one, if I change my look then he might stop calling me a sheep..._Knowing what had to be done to end the insults, Near slipped on his shoes and told Roger that he would return shortly.

Near opened the door to the Wammy House, and was greated by the sight of Matt. He was casually lounging on the couch playing a video game with his feet resting on the table. At the sound of the door opening, he turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"Near, did you go outside?" Surprise was apparent in his voice. When Near only nodded, he continued talking. "You know, as pale as you are you could get some serious sun damage. Hey, what's in the bags?" Near was gripping two plastic bags. He figured he couldn't lie to the gamer, so he said in his usual monotone.

"Hair dye and clothes." Matt nearly swallowed the lit cigarette in his mouth. Regaining his composure, he choked out in shock.

"H-Hair dye? Clothes? W-Why?" Near merely shrugged and lowered his head, quickly rushing to his room. Matt stared after the pale boy, running a hand through his red hair.

"I wonder what he's up to...as if I didn't know."

Near closed the door to his room quickly and dropped the contents of the bag onto his bed. Light brown hair dye, a red t-shirt with the design of a black velvet cross on the front, and blue jeans. He pulled a few more clothes out of the bag as well. Some black jeans, some light blue. Some green shirts, some white with dark designs. He eyed the clothes warily. They sure didn't look comfortable, was he sure he wanted to go through with this?

"Hey Sheep, what's that?" He never covered something up so quick in his life. Throwing a blanket over the contents, he turned to face the curious blonde with malice filled eyes. He regarded him calmly, throwing back up his walls.

"None of your business, Mello." The blonde's temper flared immediately, but a hand on his shoulder calmed him down. Matt stood behind him, and gently pulled Mello from the room. Matt glanced back and held his gaze to Near.

"Near, you don't have to change..." Near lowered his head.

"That's a lie."

"Leave on for twenty-five minutes..." Near read the back of the hair dye box. He already had the foul spelling mixture spread throughout his hair. Tossing the box aside, he locked himself in his room until the time was up. Last thing he needed was Mello barging in and laughing at him. Piecing together a puzzle, he glanced at the clock. _Twenty-five minutes passed already? _He thought to himself. Slowly opening his door to make sure no one was there, he crossed the hallway into the bathroom and locked the door.

Removing his old clothes, not caring about the hairdye streaking the shirt, he stepped into the shower. He shivered as cold water ran down his skin, but sighed in content as the water adjusted. Quickly scrubbing the dye from his hair, he ran a cloth over his body to remove any of the dye that may have stained his skin. Shutting off the water, he grabbed a towel and wrapped it tightly around his waist.

He didn't want to open his eyes. He kept them closed, trying to build enough courage to look into the mirror. Reaching out blindy, he ran a hand across the cool glass and smudged away some of the water droplets that covered it. _One...two...three._ He opened his eyes, and froze.

"W-What the..." Black hair. He had _black _hair. Not the light brown he hoped for, but black. He quickly grabbed his old clothes, and making sure the towel was secure around his waist, he ran across the hallway to his room. Immediately he found the tossed aside box, and mentally punched himself for his own stupidity. The dye was black. He must have got it confused somehow...but _how? _Maybe he wasn't as smart as everyone thought...

Supressing an angry shout, he turned to the new clothes. _Might as well get dressed..._picking up a dark blue pair of jeans, he slipped them on. _How uncomfortable..._he found he couldn't move as easily, even though they weren't the "skinny jeans" he had seen. Why would guys _want _to wear something so tight fitting? Willing himself to finish what he started, he grabbed the red shirt with the black cross and slipped it on over his head. It fit perfectly, and was more comfortable than the jeans.

"Alright, well I guess it could have been worse.." He mumbled to himself. Turning around to throw away the tags to the clothes, he once again, froze. In the doorway stood Mello. Not the usual sneering Mello, but a confused one. A _very _confused one. The blonde's eyes were wide and he tilted his head, not sure if he had the right room or not. _Is that...the sheep?_ Mello thought to himself.

"What does Mello think?" Near looked down, bracing himself.

"I think...you're an idiot." Near's eyes looked up in surprise. Why was he still being insulted? Mello continued. "Why would you do this? You shouldn't try to change yourself!" With each word his voice seemed to rise, and he stepped into the room more.

"I did this so I would stop being called a sheep..." Mello froze. He did this because of the insults? The blonde shifted with guilt.

"Near, you never needed to change." Near gasped in surprise. That was the first time he wasn't called anything but his own name. "You ruined your hair, it was such an interesting shade of white. It was never dirty yet it was never blinding. It was like snow...and where are your normal clothes?" Near pointed to the white pajamas sitting in the corner of the room and Mello lifted them up. "What's up with the stains on the shirt?  
"Hair dye..." Near spoke softly, looking down but always keeping an eye on Mello.

"Hair dye...right...that won't come out you know. Luckily you have more than one pair of pajamas...I hope." Near nodded and Mello walked over to the closet, pulling out another set of pure white pajamas. "Take those off. They don't suit you." Near didn't move. He remained looking at the ground, embarrassed.

"I did something regretful...didn't I, Mello?" Mello blinked as the boy asked him.

"Yes...yes, you did."

About ten minutes later, they both walked out of the room. Matt raised an eyebrow. He was waiting patiently outside the door, hearing the entire converstion as it went on. Near now wore his white pajamas and he twirled a strand of black hair around his finger. Mello stood behind him, and sighed.

"His hair won't be white again for quite awhile." Near mentally flinched at the words.

"Ah well, at least it won't be black forever." Matt looked back down at his video game and hid a grin. Him and Mello couldn't help but think the exact same thing. With the black hair, pale skin and lack of emotion, Near was just like L.


End file.
